Choice, Chance and Change

You must make the Choice,

To take the Chance,

If you want anything in life to Change.

So true.  A friend of mine (currently living on Jersey, in the Channel Islands) posted this to her Facebook page a few days ago and the thought has been with me ever since.

Make the Choice.

Take the Chance.

Experience the Change.

So simple. I wonder why it is that we never get off the ground on most of the changes we think we want? 

Personally, I think my biggest challenge is in making the choice - fear of making the choice? Perhaps. I can see something isn't working for me, I can feel it and I can taste it in my daily happenings, but sometimes I'm afraid of what happens next.  What happens AFTER I make the choice? If it doesn't work, sometimes I can go back to the old way, as long as I didn't burn bridges... but most of the time, once the choice is made and actions have been taken, there *is* no going back. 

This one sort of falls into the "evil you know" category for me. What eventually forces my hand, in almost all "negative impact" situations is that the current negative experience FAR outweighs the perceived "evil I don't know" - making it impossible for me to stay where I am, or doing what I am doing.  Thankfully, I have only had a couple of these experiences in life and have been able, once recognition kicks in, to make the choices and take the chances needed to force the change.

I know a lot of people who don't cope well with change.  They freely admit to it & avoid it at all costs. I have always liked it - change, when needed, is a great thing.  At work, at home, personally, professionally - change (when needed) is a great thing.  Change simply for the sake of change isn't necessarily the best thing in the world, but I haven't really lived my life by the adage that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"  because really, if you never look outside the windows to see what else is there, how do you know it actually ISN'T broken?

Taking chances all depends on your personal risk tolerance levels. Some people take loads of physical chances - bike riding without a helmet, driving without a seat belt, hell - running with scissors! Some people are more chance-oriented when it comes to their money (nope, not this girl, I need to ensure my "sleep at night" factor is covered) and some others are more chance-oriented with their lifestyle, relationships, locational choices... well, you get the picture.

As you can see, I have been chewing on this for a little while now.  I wonder, what are your thoughts on Choice, Chance and Change...?

With love across the waters,

Thursdays child has far to go

Mondays child is fair of face,
Tuesdays child is full of grace,
Wednesdays child is full of woe,
Thursdays child has far to go,
Fridays child is loving and giving,
Saturdays child works hard for his living.
And the child that is born on the Sabbath day,
Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

I've been thinking about this nursery rhyme for a while now. I was born on a Thursday and most definitely seem to have had far to go. I was reminded this past week just how far I have gone to this point in my life, and am now wondering how much further I need to go before, well, before I get there?

I started out this life in Nanaimo, BC. From there, as a child, we moved to various points in Vancouver and back to Vancouver Island. As a young adult I moved from Cowichan Bay to Victoria - my first actual move - out of my parents' home and to my own. Next to Calgary. Maybe not for the right reason, but once the reason I moved there for was no longer part of my world, I stayed another year there, alone and far from my family, just to prove I could.

And I could.

Back in Victoria for a few years and then out to Ontario. Better reasons this time. More lessons and some of them repeats of previous ones, but most definitely lessons learned. 11 years in Ontario - and two homes. One in Etobicoke (pronounced eh-toh-BI-coe) and one east of Oshawa in Courtice (pronounced CUR-tis.)

From Ontario I went to the Island of Jersey - which is part of the Channel Islands and, most definitely, a beautiful place to live. I also went there for the wrong reason - VERY wrong reason. OK. Lesson learned!

From Jersey, last summer, I got to come home. All the way home to Vancouver Island again. Now I live in Comox - which is pronounced just like it looks. And this was for a right reason.

Finally.

Yes, a long way to go to get back home. Was it all worth it? I think so.

I learned a lot of lessons along the way. Some of the better ones are:

• Watching home improvement shows ALWAYS results in spent money
• Spray painting anything outside when there is wind (and not wearing a face mask) results in colourful snot
• Taking apart a tin garden shed whilst wearing flip-flops is ALWAYS a bad idea
• Big toes bleed WAY more than you would think they could
• European chocolate *is* better
• Moving to another province (or another country) *is* worth doing, even if done for the wrong reason
• Family is so very precious - not to be taken for granted, never to assume they will be here forever
• Ditto for friends
• Taking pictures is always worth the effort to remember the camera

I think what I have learned best, so far, is that (when thinking about a choice I get to make) if I think I may some day ask myself "what if I had only..." then the risk needs to be taken.

Am I there yet, though? I don't know - I guess I'll figure that out some day - but for now, just now, I'm content to be where I have arrived - home.

So now I ask you... what day of the week were you born? Is the nursery rhyme accurate for you...?